If you follow the Gregorian calendar, we bring in a new year tomorrow, and I wish you all the best! (Actually, given my blog's country stats, some of you reading this are probably already there.) If you don't follow the Gregorian calendar, I still wish you all the best! Have fun! Be safe.
Month: December 2013
UChicago researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world | UChicago News
Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today’s forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds. That's the implication of a study led by researchers in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago who have definitively characterized the atmosphere of a super-Earth class planet orbiting another star … Continue reading UChicago researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world | UChicago News
What Americans believe
Pew published the results of a new study this morning that is getting a lot of attention on the web: Six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that “humans and other living things have evolved over time,” while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that “humans and other living things have existed in their present … Continue reading What Americans believe
‘Just Babies – The Origins of Good and Evil,’ by Paul Bloom – NYTimes.com
Is morality innate? In his new book, “Just Babies,” the psychologist Paul Bloom draws from his research at the Yale Infant Cognition Center to argue that “certain moral foundations are not acquired through learning. . . . They are instead the products of biological evolution.” Infants may be notoriously difficult to study (rats and pigeons … Continue reading ‘Just Babies – The Origins of Good and Evil,’ by Paul Bloom – NYTimes.com
Consciousness and the Social Brain: A review
What is consciousness? What is the inner experience that we all feel we have? Is it an illusion or an ontological reality? Michael Graziano thinks it is a reality, and he thinks he has found a scientific theory for it, which he describes in his book: 'Consciousness and the Social Brain'. The quest for a … Continue reading Consciousness and the Social Brain: A review
Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice | Science | theguardian.com
Australian and US researchers hope an anti-ageing compound could be trialled on humans as early as next year, following a key breakthrough that saw the ageing process reversed in mice. The study, involving Harvard University and the University of NSW, discovered a way of restoring the efficiency of cells, completely reversing the ageing process in … Continue reading Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice | Science | theguardian.com
Evolution and altruism
In this episode, a question that haunted Charles Darwin: if natural selection boils down to survival of the fittest, how do you explain why one creature might stick its neck out for another? The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today\'s plants … Continue reading Evolution and altruism
Elysium: a quick review
I saw the movie Elysium this afternoon. It's a tale of a desperately poor population living under the rule of an elite wealthy class. In this case, the poor are living on Earth and the wealthy elite in a space habitat called Elysium. The habitat has technology able to cure any ailment, but this technology … Continue reading Elysium: a quick review
Brainlike computers, learning from experience | NDTV.com
Computers have entered the age when they are able to learn from their own mistakes, a development that is about to turn the digital world on its head. The first commercial version of the new kind of computer chip is scheduled to be released in 2014. Not only can it automate tasks that now require … Continue reading Brainlike computers, learning from experience | NDTV.com
Ask Ethan #17: The Burden of Proof – Starts With A Bang
Perhaps no word in the English language generates as much misunderstanding as the word theory. In scientific circles, this word has a very specific meaning that’s different from everyday use, and — as a theoretical astrophysicist myself — I feel it’s my duty to help explain exactly what we mean when we use it. via … Continue reading Ask Ethan #17: The Burden of Proof – Starts With A Bang
